While Prey dosen't make good on all of it's potential it is still a great game that is easily recommendable.
In Prey you will play as Tommy, a Cherokee Indian that has turned his back on his Cherokee heritage and wishes to leave the reservation with his girlfriend Jen. In the opening scene you will find Tommy in Jen's roadhouse trying to convince her to leave. As you make your way to the bar one of the games strongest side characters, Grandfather, warns you that a change is on the horizon and that he must accept his heritage in order to survive. While Tommy is trying to convince Jen to run away with him the invasion begins. Tommy along with Jen and Grandfather are abducted into the spaceship and the saga begins as Tommy fights to save them and get back to earth. From here your exploration of The Sphere begins. The plot will thicken and be filled with twists and turns as you fight to save the world. The story is told very well and will wrap you up very quickly if you allow it to.
While the gameplay is as innovative as a title has seen in recent memory it still dosen't tap into all of the titles potential. Majority of the inovations come to you via gravity and portals. The portals are at their core simply a door way but at sometimes can add some perplexity to the game. Controlling gravity is probably the strongest feature of Prey and can add for some enjoyable and disorienting fun. This plays a major role in the many in game puzzels that you must solve in order to move through the game. The puzzels will range from the straight forward to challenging and will show off many of Prey's key features. The spirit walk is an interesting idea as it allows Tommy's spirit to leave his body and take out enemies with a powerful bow and arrow attack. While the combat portion of this ability is slightly unhandy to use and not a major part of battle it will mainly be used to go where Tommy cannor and also be used to solve Prey's many puzzels. The enemy AI leaves something to be desired as it gives absolutely no challenge. The enemies will come at you in numbers but are all extremly weak. Strategy is pretty much thrown out the with the new death mini game that allows you to return to life after death. In this mini game you will find your self on a rocky plateau as you attempt to shoot down red and blue wraiths in order to recharge your spirit and body health upon reentry in to the world of the living. While this may make for an interesting idea it makes the game way to straight forward for its own good.
The graphics are done exstremly well and gives a glimpse at what is possible on the Xbox 360. The human characters are ordinary at best but gets most of it's mileage out of it's downright gorgeous levels and aliens. At many moments you will find yourself peering out over the scenic but ever threatening Sphere. The framerate goes along without a hitch and makes gameplay much easier and more enjoyable.
The weapon sound effects are weak and don't give any feeling of power behind your weapon of choice. Many of the effects are rather linear and uninteresting but the inner sanctum of the spaceship can offer some very interesting and sometimes semi spooky sound effects. The voice overs do a fine job and are very convincing. Only during times of high emotion does the voice acting falter in the least. I thought the game was very liberal with the language and at times sounds more forced than natural. The most interesting bit of sound takes place in the Jen's roadhouse as the juke box is full of real life classic rock hits such as Judas Priest's "You got another thing comin'" and many other hits that you can click your way through.
While the games may lack difficulty this allows for the game to be a nice two day adventure that you will thoroughly enjoy. Prey didn't capitalize on all of it's potential but offers enough new features to the table to entertain and captivate you until the last level. While there may be a few better shooters out for the Xbox 360 fan's of the genre could do themselves a favor by giving Prey a try and the games interesting new ideas and fresh feel should be enough to keep you entertained.